ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN MARCH
Saints celebrated on the 2nd of March
Prayer to the Angels and the Saints
Heavenly Father, in praising Your Angels and Saints we praise Your glory, for by honouring them we honour You, their Creator. Their splendour shows us Your greatness, which infinitely surpasses that of all creation.
In Your loving providence, You saw fit to send Your Angels to watch over us. Grant that we may always be under their protection and one day enjoy their company in heaven.
Heavenly Father, You are glorified in Your Saints, for their glory is the crowning of Your gifts. You provide an example for us by their lives on earth, You give us their friendship by our communion with them, You grant us strength and protection through their prayer for the Church, and You spur us on to victory over evil and the prize of eternal glory by this great company of witnesses.
Grant that we who aspire to take part in their joy may be filled with the Spirit that blessed their lives, so that, after sharing their faith on earth, we may also experience their peace in heaven. Amen.
ST MARNAN, BISHOP AND CONFESSOR
[Marnock or Marnock of Kilmarnock - also known as Marnan or Ernin - 7th century. [In the Benedictine calendar St Marnan is mentioned on October 25.]
To his holy prayers Aidan, king of the Scots, ascribed a wonderful victory which he gained over Ethelfrid, the pagan king of the Northumbrian English; and by his councils Eugenius IV who succeeded his father Aidan in the kingdom soon after this battle, treated all the prisoners with the utmost humanity and generosity, by which they were gained to the Christian faith.
THE PRINCES OSWALD AND OSWI WERE INSTRUCTED BY HIM
The Northumbrian princes, Oswald and Oswi, were instructed in our holy religion, and grounded in its spirit by St Marnan, who died in Annandale, in the year 620.
HIS RELICS
His head was kept with singular devotion at Moravia, and was carried in processions attended by the whole clan of the Innis’s, which from the earliest times was much devoted to this saint.
St Marnan is titular saint of the church of Aberkerdure upon the river Duvern, formerly much frequented out of devotion to his relics kept there.
(From Fr Butler's Lives of the Saints - 📷 St Andrew's and St Marnock's Church, Kilmarnock)
INFORMATION FROM THE CALENDAR OF SCOTTISH SAINTS:
Like so many of the Celtic saints, the name of this one has been changed by the addition of particles expressive of reverence. The original form was Ernin; the Scottish name is a contraction of the Gaelic words Mo-Ernin-og (my little Ernin). He is considered by some writers to have been of Irish nationality, but this is by no means established.
HE LABOURED AS A MISSIONARY
St Marnock laboured as a missionary in Moray, being specially noted for his zeal in preaching. He died at Aberchirder in Banffshire, and was buried in the church there. The place after wards received the additional name of Marnock from its connection with the saint. St Marnock’s shrine became a favourite place of pilgrimage, and miracles were wrought through his relics, which were religiously preserved there.
ST MARNOCK'S INTERCESSION THROUGH HIS RELICS
The head of St Marnock was frequently borne in procession to obtain fair weather. It was the custom also to have lights placed round it every Sunday and to wash the relic with water, which was afterwards used, greatly to their benefit, by the sick. The Innes family, who chose the saint as their patron, had a particular devotion to that relic.
THE MARNOCK FAIR
Traces of the cultus of St Marnock are to be found in many districts of Scotland. Besides the church in which his remains were honoured, a holy well at Aberchirder still bears his name. A fair on the second Tuesday in March, held there annually, was known as Marnock Fair. There was a Marnock Fair at Paisley also, which lasted for eight days.
ARD-MARNOC
The church of the well-known parish of Kilmarnock, in Ayrshire, is another of his dedications. Near Kilfinan, in Argyllshire, and not far from the sea shore, may be seen the foundation and a fragment of the wall of a chapel with a graveyard round it; the field in which the chapel stands is called Ard-Marnoc.
PLACES AND CHURCHES CONNECTED WITH ST MARNOCK
On an eminence not far off is a cell which tradition assigns to this saint as a place of retirement for solitary communion with God. Inchmarnock, an island near Bute, is another place connected with him; Dalmarnock at Little Dunkeld, is named after this saint. Other churches and parishes also show traces of the honour paid to him.
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